Cafeteria Chaos

Melina watched Alice wake up from her nap at the sound of the bell ringing, signaling the start of lunch. Alice stretched her arms out and yawned, "Who's ready for lunch?"

"You obviously." A girl with a blue blazer said, suddenly appearing in front of the two girls. "Have a good nap?"

It was the same girl Melina had seen earlier in homeroom, standing with Antonio's group. Her wavy, silver hair flowed down to her waist and she had pale skin, almost transparent. The girl turned her head, catching Melina staring at her, and smiled brightly.

But that smile didn't reach her crystal blue eyes. Melina found the other girl mesmerizing and beautiful but at the same time cold. Almost like a porcelain doll.

Alice sighed loudly suddenly, interrupting the trance between the two girls. "Yeah, I had a dream that I was eating lasagna."

The girl turned away to look at Alice. "Well, you're in luck Alice. They're serving that today."

"Hell, yeah! "Alice got up, unexpectedly energized. "Melina, let's get moving. Before the werewolves get to the cafeteria."

Melina got up, grabbing her bag, only to find herself being dragged to the cafeteria. After much pushing through the crowds in the hallways, mostly done by Alice, Melina found herself walking through a large, open room with multiple metal tables and chairs.

Students were sitting and eating with friends and classmates while others were standing in a queue at the back to grab some lunch. Melina spotted Antonio with a bunch of other students, sitting at a table near the center. Looking up to see Melina, he briefly spoke to his friends before hurrying to the direction of the three girls.

"Alice, Marco's near the front holding your spot." Antonio exclaimed as he stood before the girls. "I suggest you move before the wolves co-."

A sudden bang caused Melina to turn to find where the noise came from. She saw a bunch of people appear from the side doors, causing noise and creating general chaos.

"Too late…" Antonio mumbled as everyone watched the group.

"It isn't!" Alice exclaimed. "He's right at the front?"

"Ye-"

The three girls hurried to the front of the queue, Alice mostly dragging everyone with some abnormal speed and strength. Soon they were at the front where Melina saw a blond-haired boy in a red blazer waving.

"Alice, what took you so long?!" The boy waved. "Next time you're going to have to wait in line by yourself."

"Yeah, yeah." Alice muttered, grabbing a tray. "Thank you my dear brother, Marco."

Melina looked at Marco, a little shocked to see that Alice had a brother. But upon taking a closer look, she realized the two were similar looking. They both had amber eyes, were the same height and they had the same button nose. The only difference was that they had different colored hair and Marco looked a little more uptight.

"You were probably sleeping in class again." Marco scolded. "And you wonder why you get-"

Alice slapped Marco on the back and glared at him. "I said thank you already, Marco. So, shut up."

"Whatever." Marco muttered, finally noticing the other two girls. "Grace, nice to see you again. Oh and who are you?"

"Nice to see you too, Marco." The silver haired girl, Grace replied smiling coldly.

Oh, so the silver haired girl is called Grace, Melina thought.

"That's Melina Rana, the transfer student." Alice responded, as lunch was put onto her tray. "Melina, this is my stupid twin, Marco."

"Ignore her, Melina." Marco said, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, it's nice to meet you."

"Likewise." Melina smiled.

After that the four all got lunch and were leaving the queue just as the chaotic group approached the queue.

"Let's move quickly before they get to us." Grace muttered.

They walked over to where Antonio was sitting, when Melina unexpectedly felt a tug on her blazer. Melina turned to see Michael standing there holding a tray.

"Hey…" Michael said awkwardly. "Do you…um… still wanna hav-"

"Melina, you coming?" Alice yelled, sitting down next to Antonio. She then spotted Michael and smiled. "Oh, nevermind. Go enjoy your time with your boyfriend."

Melina blushed at Alice's words, unexpectedly feeling shy and embarrassed. Michael was good looking, there was no denying it. He was also nice and if he wasn't her bodyguard, she might've even had a crush on him. But because of their relationship she could never overstep like that and Alice had gotten the wrong idea…

Looking away from Michael, she murmured, "Sorry about Alice. I think she has the wrong idea."

"Don't worry, Melina." Michael sighed. "I understand. Alice can be like that… Anyway, do you want to go and eat? That is if you want to eat with me…"

Melina looked at Michael and smiled a little nervously. "No, I'll eat with you. I did promise to have lunch with you after all."

Michael nodded and the two walked to a small table at the back, awkward silence heavy in the air between the two. The two sat down on the metal chairs, which were surprisingly comfortable, and began to eat the deliciously prepared lunch.

The cafeteria food here was definitely not like the food she got at her old school. It almost reminded her of the food she got at home. The only problem was the tension in the air. It was making it hard for her to enjoy her food.

Finally, getting sick of the tension, Melina asked, "Um…so is there a reason why the werewolves were rowdy?"

Just as she spoke, Melina heard someone howl and she looked to see that the queue had become complete chaos. There was fighting and food flying all over the show. Melina suddenly understood why Alice hurried so much.

Ms. Grayson, her magic teacher, suddenly appeared with an empty pot plant in her hands. She started chanting something in a weird tongue. Within seconds, vines had appeared from the pot plant and split up everyone, some holding people in the air as they howled.

Ms. Grayson hissed and the room became silent. Melina watched as she walked out the cafeteria, carrying the pot plant and everything the vines were holding, out of the cafeteria.

"Puberty is the hardest for the werewolves, especially when they smell meat and it's a full moon." Michael explained as the room went back to normal, as if nothing had happened. "Sometimes, a few go crazy losing control of their wolf and attack people. It's why I wanted to have lunch with you."

"Oh…"

"By the way, Melina, be careful with Grace." Michael said suddenly. "You can hang with her but don't trust her too easily. Alice is okay despite her…um…behavior at times, but try to make sure you never get too close to Grace."

"Is it because she's from the Tasha clan?" Melina asked.

After the whole staring thing, Melina had noticed the snake badge on her blue blazer. She soon realized that Grace was from the Tasha clan, one of the neutral demon clans. However, her father had warned her that while they were neutral, they were the most twisted out of all the clans.

"Yes… And I'm sure your father has explained their clan to you." Michael replied. "Grace may seem nice at first but she is two faced. And that's talking from experience."

Melina nodded her head. "He has. Can I ask what happened?"

Michael stabbed his fork into a piece of lasagna and sighed. "She tricked me and a group of friends into helping her with a prank."

"Oh…"

"Anyway, how is everything going so far with classes?" Michael asked, clearly wanting to change the subject.

"It's okay. I was just wondering why all the teachers seemed so attached to nature?"

"Well, all the faculty members of this school are some type of Fae. They're the only species that aren't affected by the politics of the underworld, so having them teach all the supernatural keeps the peace among feuding clans and species." Michael explained.

"I guess that makes sense." Melina exclaimed. "I wo-"

"So, this is where you've been hiding Michael." A voice suddenly called out. "Oh, damn! You were ditching us for a chick."

"Leo, please don't start…" Michael muttered.

Melina looked to the direction of the voice to see a blue eyed boy sitting down next to her. He turned to look at her and smiled widely, fangs showing. Melina looked at his blazer, its black color confirming her suspicions of Leo being a vampire.

"Well, aren't you a pretty thing. I can see why Michael was trying to hide you from us." Leo smirked before noticing Melina's blazer color. "A Rana huh? I can see why they hide them now."

"Leo!" Michael growled slightly, turning Leo's attention away from Melina.

"What man?" Leo looked at Michael. "She's not your girl yet?"

"No…she's my boss's daughter so take a hike." Michael glared at Leo, his eyes blazing a red color.

Leo smirked, eyes turning red too. The two got locked into a staring contest for what seemed like eternity before Leo turned his head, raising his hands in a surrender pose.

"Alright, I won't tell the others." Leo exclaimed before turning to Melina. "However, doll, if you ever get bored with Mr. No Fun, then come find me."

He winked, standing up and disappearing as quickly as appeared. Melina turned to look at Michael who had an angry look on his face, eyes still blazing red. After a few seconds, Michael came out of whatever trance he was in and sighed.

"Apologies about that Melina. Leo can sometimes say some…wrong things." Michael murmured. "Please stay away from him…he isn't a good…influence."

"It's okay Michael. I'm sure he was just worried about what his friend was doing." Melian replied. "I didn't…um… mean to take you away from your friends. You can go join them if you want, I'll just go sit with Alice."

Michael looked at her about to say something when Melina interrupted knowing what he was going to say.

"Don't worry about me. You've kept me safe so far and the danger is mostly gone with Ms Grayson taking them with her. Go spend some time with your friends before break is over, that's an order."

"Alright, Melina you win." Michael sighed, getting up. "But you better stick to Alice. She's the only one I can trust you with."

"Okay."

"Also, Leo isn't a friend. We just have mutual friends." Michael said before disappearing.

Melina got up and walked to where Alice was sitting. Pulling up a chair Melina sighed, tired of all the drama. Alice looked at her a little confused.

"Have a fight with your boyfriend?" Alice asked, misunderstanding the sigh.

"No and he's not my boyfriend."

"Really?" Alice asked, happy for some reason.

"Seriously." Melina replied. "We just know each other because our dads work together. He was only helping me adjust to school."

Melina wasn't sure about telling people that Michael was her bodyguard, so she just decided to tell Alice that instead.

Alice looked at her closely for a second. "Alright then. I'm happy to hear that. Michael is too much trouble."

Melina sighed and Alice laughed. "I'm joking, Melina. Don't worry we'll find you a great boyfriend."

"I don't think so." Melina responded, not ready to tell Alice that her family was probably going to stop any dating from happening.

"Oh, we're so going to find you someone." Alice's eyes glowed with glee.